SKAGIT COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY - Skagit River History

SKAGIT COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
RICHARD A. WEYRICH
CRIMINAL DIVISION
CHIEF CRIMINAL DEPUTY
ROSEMARY KAHOLOI(ULA
SENIOR CRIMINAL DEPUTIES
ERIf< PEDERSEN
TRISHA D. JOHNSON
EDWIN N. NORTON
CRJMINAL DEPUTIES
ERIN C, DYER
SLOAN G. JOHNSON
KAREN L. PINNELL
MELISSA W. SULLIVAN
PAUL W. NIELSEN
Russ BROWN
MELANIE STUM
605 S. THIRD
MOUNT VERNON, W A 98273
PHONE (360) 336-9460
FAX (360) 336-9347
CIVIL DIVISION
CHIEF CIVIL DEPUTY
WILLIAM W. HONEA
CIVIL DEPUTIES
MELINDA B. MILLER
ARNE O. D ENNY
STEPHEN R. FALLQUIST
JILL OLSON
RYAN WALTERS
FAMILY SUPPORT DIVISION
CHIEF FAMILY SUPPORT DEPUTY
KURT E. HEFFERLINE
SENIOR FAM ILY SUPPORT DEPUTY
GWEN L. HALLIDA Y
December 22, 2010
Mr. Kevin Rogerson
City of Mount Vernon
PO Box 809
Mount Vernon, WA 98273
Mr. Scott Thomas
City of Burlington
833 South Spruce Street
Burlington, WA 98233
Mr. John Schultz
Dike District Nos. 1 & 12
160 Cascade Place, Suite 211
Burlington, WA 98233
Mr. Scott Shapiro
Downey Brand LLP
621 Capitol Mall, 18th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
Gentlemen,
RE: FEMA Map Appeal
It is our understanding that FEMA plans to initiate the appeal period for the new Skagit Basin
FIRM maps in the near future. In our September 2010 meeting with the mayors and commissioners,
we discussed that you would be providing the County with a proposed appeal plan. The idea was
that this would allow the County to contemplate financial participation in the cities' appeal.
We have received a public document in the past few days that contains few details, but have
otherwise not been invited to participate in formulating an appeal plan. It is our understanding that
the cities' appeal plan has generally been cloaked in secrecy - for example, Burlington city council
members were allowed to see but not keep a copy of the appeal plan .
As the Board of Commissioners made clear during our September meeting, the County must
be involved in the front-end planning of the appeal on an open and transparent basis if the County is
to financially participate in an appeal. Nevertheless, at this point we have literally no idea what the
cities plan to appeal, what technical information will form the basis for the appeal, nor what legal
Family Support Location Information:
PO Box 1226, 1204 Cleveland Street,
Mount Vemon, WA 98273
PH (360) 336-9461 FAX (360) 336-9393
Civil Location Information:
Skagit County Courthouse
Courthouse Room 302
PH: (360) 336-9460 FAX: (360) 336-9497

FEMA Flood Appeal December 22,2010
theories will be asserted - and so forth. Once the appeal is filed, the opportunity to participate in
forming the appeal plan will be foreclosed.
We understand that the cities have collectively allocated $150,000 for the appeal. In our
experience, the amount of time and money involved in battles of this nature seldom if ever stay
within the bounds of pre-conflict predictions.
For example, few County officials in office in 1995 would have predicted that the dispute over
farmland fish buffers would involve paying Seattle law firms more than $5,000,000 over the course of
a decade. And few in 2001 foresaw that many more millions would be paid to outside law firms to
pursue water rights litigation in the Skagit River Basin. Speaking from substantial experience,
outside counsel is easy to hire and complex disputes are easy to start, but the costs are exceedingly
hard to control once started. With this mind, given the likely costs of this endeavor and the extensive
efforts already funded by the County that have reduced the base flood elevation, we believe it
important that the community proceed with a plan that is likely to accomplish clearly defined
objectives.
We presume it is not the cities' intention to initiate an appeal without the County's input and
then later seek the County's financial participation. Given the cities' budgetary constraints and
comments by Mayor Norris during our September 2010 meeting, it seems a virtual certainty that the
cities will be asking Skagit County to financially participate in the cities' appeal effort in the not too
distant future. While we continue to have grave concerns about a technical appeal based on Pacific
International Engineering's (PIE) work product, it is even more important that all jurisdictions in the
Skagit River Basin work on a coordinated basis in dealing with the new FIRM maps.
The new FIRM maps have been published in their final form, the technical information
underlying them is publically available, the cities' technical criticisms are well-known, and the appeal
period will start in a matter of days. With this in mind, it is difficult to comprehend the reason for the
extensive secrecy in which the cities' appeal plans have thus far been shrouded. From our
perspective, any perceived need for secrecy is considerably outweighed by the need to justify the
extremely large and highly unpredictable expenditure that local government is on the verge of
undertaking. The new FIRM maps may well have intolerable impacts, but proceeding precipitously
will only add insult to injury.
With the foregoing in mind, we invite a more open discussion about the cities' plans to appeal
the FIRM maps if the County is to be later asked to financially participate in the appeal.
Will Honea
Chief Civil Deputy
cc:
Richard Weyrich
Board of Commissioners
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